


Continuity

by Ononymous



Series: Undertale Anniversary Requests 2019 [5]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-03 01:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21171053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ononymous/pseuds/Ononymous
Summary: Moving day is always a pain. That's why it's a good idea to do a lot of the prep work for it before you actually have to go. Or avail of your friends to do it for you instead. Just be prepared for the questions.





	Continuity

_Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock..._

_Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock..._

_Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock kn-_

"Oh, get outta the way Papyrus! _NGAH!_"

**CRASH.**

The shelves bolted straight into the cavern wall quivered from the noise and force of the front door being kicked in, dust undisturbed in living memory being dislodged and drifting to the floor. The occupant of the house-and-shop paid the intrusion no mind, continuing to read an MTT™ Gossip magazine. His two guests remained undetected until they marched right up to the counter.

"HEY, GERSON!"

His olive head turned as though hearing a faint whisper. "Well howdydo, Undyne! An' young Papy too! No need to shout young lady, ya coulda knocked!"

"BUT WE DID KNOCK, SIR!" Undyne regarded Papyrus' naivite with an inscrutable expression.

"Oh, did ya?" A plump finger planted itself in a hole beneath his hat to clear any obstruction. "Apologies if I was rude 'n' ignored it, my hearing ain't what it used to be."

Sans, sitting on a chair near the river and reading the same magazine, '_accidentally_' dropped a coin from his pocket. Gerson immediately turned in the direction of its golden clatter, but he was not given the chance to investigate further.

"Moving day's coming up, you old fart!" Yelled Undyne in the impatient tone she used for maximum affection. "You picked the spot for your new house on the surface, right?"

"Sure did. Haggled with young Aedif to build it on the cheap! The jacuzzi will have to wait, sadly."

"Okay then! Well you should know King Asgore has asked the Royal Guard help everyone pack before we formally disband."

"Heh! An' you two went and drew the short end of the straw, is that it?"

"ACTUALLY, CAPTAIN UNDYNE CALLED DIBS-"

"Anyway," said Undyne even more loudly, "do you, the oldest citizen of the Underground, require assistance gathering up your effects for transportation to our new home?"

They looked around the cavern. Flopsy had had delivered boxes to Waterfall residences, and Gerson had taken a full dozen. Only one was open, and a perfunctory inspection revealed a particularly featureless rock thrown haphazardly in it. The rest were rather light, as though they were empty.

"...might need a minute or two of yer time..."

Much more than a minute or two later, the three had just finished evacuating a particularly old wardrobe which hadn't been disturbed since the stars were last right. Papyrus took on clothes-folding duty as Undyne wrenched something lodged under the counter with all her might.

"Hey old man, what's this?"

Fishing out his magnifying glass, he examined the rusty screw. "Why that is the only survivin' part of the original core! Y'all know we used steam power fer electricity back in the day, right? Welp Fluffybuns went an' commissioned..." _Scratch scratch._ "Well we build a new magic one, an' everyone grabbed a piece of the old one to use in new stuff. No respect for history, younguns! So I preserved this for future generations."

"YOU EVEN PRESERVED ITS RUSTY PATINA! YOU ARE REALLY DEDICATED TO THIS, MISTER GERSON."

"...sure, less go with that."

The rust box, as it was soon known, soon had twenty or so scraps from old projects, some from even before the war. Or so Gerson said, as it was only his historically honed eye that could recognise these things.

"MISTER GERSON, YOUR PILLOWS ARE IN A POOR STATE! I FOUND THIS FEATHER STICKING OUT FROM IT."

"Hmm? Lemme se-" His eye bulged, and he snatched the tuft of brick red hair from Papyrus' hand. "Gimme that! Been looking fer it everywhere!"

"What, a lock of your hair in your prime?" teased Undyne. "Nice try Gerson, Asgore told me your hair was black-"

"Not mine you bint, Dovah's!"

"DOVAH? WHO'S THAT?"

"Wait, you mean... Dovah Guerrehalts?"

Gerson sighed in relief. "Glad something I said ended up in that bonce of yers. Dovah, general of the Monster Armies durin' the war, and guard to five generations of the Dreemurr family. Had some weird ideas about legacy, so he gave a snip of his mane to me the day before the battle. As somethin' of a successor to him, felt like it was important to keep around, so I did. But after Asgore's kid was born, we had a big party an'... well, you think this place is a mess now, I spent a year tryin' to find my keys. Can't believe it was there all this time!"

The three of them looked at the lock of hair reverently. Gerson reached into a newly filled box of trinkets, pulled out a locket with a hidden compartment, and slipped the hair inside. The _click_ it made as he closed it felt satisfyingly secure. He proceeded to wrap it round an old tapestry of a boss monster neither Undyne or Papyrus recognised. Then he threw it back in the box.

"WOWIE, I NEVER REALISED YOU HAD PRESERVED SO MUCH OF OUR HISTORY, MISTER GERSON! SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE WE NEVER STARTED EXISTING UNTIL WE WERE ALREADY UNDERGROUND."

Gerson nodded carefully with unexpected respect. "Reckon that's what them wizards had in mind," he mused, grabbing some Sea Tea to give his guests. "Destroy our history, destroy our sense of self. Ain't the life my pappy had in mind fer me to hold on to all this junk, but he was from a different age. As long as we never forget, we hold onto ourselves."

Papyrus wiped a tear away. "HOW MOVING. WELL WE SHOULD CONTINUE TO HELP YOU WITH MOVING SO WE CAN CONTINUE TO BE MOVING! OH, WHAT IS THIS?" He picked up a cracked urn with three lines of different unrecognised languages etched along the side. Gerson took it and studied it closely.

"...no idea. Guess I forgot! Wa ha ha!" He tossed it in after the locket with little care. As quiet as the _chink_ noise was, it made Papyrus and Undyne flinch.

The roughest time came with the emblems. Setting aside the ones created Underground to celebrate one of Toriel's birthdays or other events, for one or two responses from Gerson explained dozens of them, he had somehow smuggled every prominent family's emblem in with him, possibly up his shell, and yet the humans never caught on. It had not been the most concerted _Damnatio Memoriae_ effort in history. Now Papyrus took it upon himself to learn the backstory of every single one, each one dustier than the last. He'd have been coughing nonstop if he had lungs.

"AND WHAT IS THIS ONE?" He held up a crest with a set of scales with two of the Delta Rune triangles on one side and one in the other.

"That's the Lincteamer crest. They was into makin' money, 'til one idiot blew the family fortune on-"

"AND THIS ONE?" A scroll crossed with a quill, atop a purple cross.

"The Ellhocnarcs. Mighty fine adminstrators, but boring as hell at parties."

A star atop a bright red circle. "WHAT ABOUT THIS?"

"Oh, that's the Hollidays' crest! Y'all should give that to young Rudy, bet he never knew his family were-"

A sharp sigh interrupted the back and forth. Both of them looked over to Undyne.

"Something wrong, Missy?"

"No, it's just... Look, all this stuff is really fascinating, and I get what you mean about history and stuff, but we don't have time. We've got others to help today."

Gerson looked a little hurt. "You used to pester me all hours of the day 'n' night fer stories like this."

"I know, I just..." It was hard to put diplomatically. "I have duties..."

"Ah. Fluffybuns strikes again. Yeah, yeah, I guess we can do this another time."

Undyne looked relieved he understood. "Right, we gotta make sure the move goes without troubles, right? I mean," she picked up another crest from the very bottom of the pile and glanced at it, a large green heart with a blue line bisecting it, a tiny golden star in the middle, "I'm sure whoever's family this is has an amazing story, but it's a story that doesn't affect us directly today, and we just don't have time to listen to it today, okay? It's a precarious time with us being exposed like we are now, and if someone got hurt on my watch..." The look she gave Gerson conveyed many words not in her spoken vocabulary. "When we're all secure on the surface I'll listen for sure, deal?"

Gerson eyed the crest she held for a long time, responding with unspoken words very much in his spoken vocabulary. "Okay, Undyne. Duties are duties."

"That's the spirit! Now Papyrus, pick up that empty box and see if you can fit that Delta Rune rock inside it!"

"AYE-AYE, CAPTAIN!"

"Already told you I'm not that kind of captain! Honestly, just because I can swim..."

The packing was much more efficient after that, even if it jovial air had deflated somewhat. With almost everything not nailed down packed away at last, the three monsters looked upon the hard work two of them had put into it. The cavern looked rather empty, almost lifeless, with only a chair and a bed left unpacked. Undyne picked up half of the boxes herself, while Papyrus hastily scribbled Gerson's name on them to avoid confusion.

"Just gonna bring these to Hephaestus, then we'll help the Blooks. The lighter boxes can stay until the big day. Good seein' ya, Gerson!"

"Good luck, kiddos!"

Gerson was not, in fact, left alone. After carrying two more of the boxes outside Papyrus remained behind in an effort to repair the front door. He was so occupied with the task however it was as good as Gerson being alone. In this pseudo-isolation, he waddled over to one of the boxes and fished out the emblem Undyne had grabbed earlier.

"Doesn't affect you? Heh, there's no such thing as a story like that..."

**Author's Note:**

> Original suggestion: Papyrus and Undyne helping Gerson pack in preparation for the move to the surface. He has a lot of interesting, ancient things they've never seen before.
> 
> Pastebin version: https://pastebin.com/X7cAaTPL
> 
> Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


End file.
